Practicing Italian...

...is more fun with Italian people. Last night a friend of mine needed a chaperone for a date, and so we all went down to a bar in the Piazza Bra. After a few drinks she started speaking Spanish, my other friend spoke Italian with a pronounced New York accent (so it was kind of like another language) and the third kept laughing. The boys we met are both named Francesco, they work at the opera theatre and they play in the same band. We talked about sports, extreme sports and music (staying away from politics, religion, philosophy - all topics that require some degree of fluency) and they walked us down to "the most beautiful bridge in Verona." I enjoyed it, even though (or maybe because) it was so awkward. They said they liked meeting tourists\foreigners because Verona is small, provincial and unfriendly. (Not in those exact words.)

Everyone laughs at my Italian accent. It started the night we met the two Francescos and has gotten out of control. Now they all make fun of the way I speak in English. "Who talks like that?" they demand, when I use a long\archaic word. "Wait, what?" they say, when I go off in Italian.

And while this trip might have made me feel much better about my language skills (and accent) it's ruined my confidence in my cooking skills. Yesterday I accidentally froze a carton of milk (apparently there's a sweet spot in our fridge and I discovered it) and started a grease fire. I have never started a grease fire before. The day before I tried to hard boil eggs and I took them out too early (not hard boiled enough.) What is going on? Have I been overestimating my skills all along?